Monday, September 14, 2015

After almost two years, I was really happy when I heard the author had finally published this book. Originally, I thought this series was supposed to be a trilogy but as it turns out, the author had more to write about, and the series will be stretched out into few more books. Honestly, the third book finished in such a weird way and the cliffhanger was so unbearable that there had to be more. The After Series is a really good post-apocalyptic series that explore a varieties of subjects such as survival, honor, love and science.

As I began reading Blood Sky, I was a little bit confused because I couldn't quite remember what had happened in the previous installment. But as the author slowly recapped the previous book, pieces started coming back. Emma and Arthur are still together, and along with their bunch of survivors, they are slowly making their way across Canada to hopefully make their way back to Europe. Their long trek on horseback is honestly a little slow and anticipation was definitely there because I couldn't wait for something to happen. I was actually quite surprised when the group of travelers separated because of conflicting ideas about the mists, the whole reason behind the apocalypse. The mists are scary to begin with since they can instantaneously turn objects, animals and humans into dust, but what's even scarier is the fact that they're beginning to adapt and evolve to the world. While Emma simply wants to eradicate the mists from the world, Arthur starts thinking about keeping them and trying to control them to better the world.

Honestly, I never thought those two would disagree on something so big. I thought they would stick together through everything, especially when Emma made the heartbreaking decision in the previous book to abandon her daughters in order to continue her quest with Arthur. I don't completely agree or disagree with the decisions Emma made but that's what makes her such a great character. She's plagued by some of the decisions she made and her faults make her so much more realistic. Emma might appear to struggle with leadership but she's a strong character, which allows her to surpass anything.

I was a little disappointed with how the book ended with a poker game. While I can appreciate the allusion that life is just a game, personally I'm not a fan of poker and I don't think it makes a great denouement. A poker game really does fit into the world they live in because every decision is a gamble but I would have hoped for more after the game.

I especially liked this latest book because we got to see a whole new side of characters I thought we already knew. New characters are introduced in this book too but I anticipate a big reunion of old characters in the next book. I really hope I don't have to wait two more years for it. Reading this series is definitely not a gamble because it really is a great post-apocalyptic/dystopian series.